Microsoft Office Specialist Master Students Using Skills to Train and Certify Community Members

Kathy Schmit, Business and Technology Instructor at Kalama High School in Washington State, is no stranger to the benefits of Microsoft certifications.

She is a Microsoft Certified Trainer, a Microsoft Certified Educator, holds a Microsoft Office 2010 and 2013 Masters, and is now embarking on a mission to give the local community an opportunity to earn Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certifications.

“The community has been yearning for these courses. Many people have seen our success in the paper and mentioned that they really want to take the class”, says Kathy about the communities response to the MOS 2013 community training course.

With the help of the Washington State Microsoft IT Academy initiative and Washington State Libraries, Kathy, together with MOS Master students Morgan VanRiper and Ashley Masters, hosted an evening community training course for people in the local community. The MOS 2013 community training course allows registrants to train and become certified in either Microsoft Word 2013 or Microsoft Excel 2013.

The community training course was held at Kalama High School from June 1 to 4th in the evenings and saw much success. Community members and teachers registered for the course. Those who were registered who decided to pursue certification passed their certification exam on their first try and, according to Kathy, one registrant taking Microsoft Excel 2013 even received an impressive score of 980. The success of the registrants is a testament to the dedication of Kathy, Morgan, and Ashley as well as a deep understanding of not only the Microsoft Office application, but the benefits of being Microsoft certified.

In Kathy’s personal experience, obtaining Microsoft certifications makes all the difference stating, “passing the exam not only gives you a credential to show potential employers, but the amount of confidence that comes from accomplishing that certification is astounding.”

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This initiative was also an effective way to raise funds and help Kalama students pay for the the travel expenses for the MOS U.S. National Championship. As a career and technical student organization, the community training gives students like Morgan and Ashley the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial skills and also showcase the skills they’ve acquired by becoming MOS Masters.

“Teaching this class really made me learn how to apply these tasks to everyday situations and build on the skills I’ve already learned. Teaching has also helped me make a connection to understand what I was doing instead of just doing routine tasks. I loved meeting and helping the people in my community. I had an amazing time and experience teaching the classes”, says Morgan VanRiper, MOS 2010/2013 Master, former MOS World Champion competitor, on her experience teaching the course.

The community training even gave Ashley Masters, MOS 2013 Master. Washington State FBLA Champion, Washington State Word 2013 Champion, and MOS U.S. Nationals competitor a chance to design a project from scratch to help teach the course material.

“When I started to create the document I would be using to teach the class, it tested me in a whole new way. I got frustrated at first, but by the time I was done I knew a lot more and had a whole new view of the program’, says Masters.

Looking to the future, Kathy believes the next goal is to certify all the teachers at Kalama High School in Word 2013, Excel 2013, PowerPoint 2013, and OneNote 2013. With more and more students becoming certified and earning Master certifications, the possibilities are endless.

Contact CCI learning to learn more about Microsoft IT Academy and how Microsoft Office Specialist certifications can be implemented in your school or community.

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